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The CITE, a blog published by the National Association of College Stores, takes a look at the intersection of education and technology, highlighting issues that range from course materials to learning delivery to the student experience. Comments, discussion, feedback, and ideas are welcome.

Friday, February 16, 2018

Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder have
developed a way to detect when students using personalized learning software start to daydream.
By using machine-learning algorithms on recordings of student eye movement, the
researchers were able to figure out which eye patterns were associated with the
mind wandering.

The study found that when students’ eyes matched “zoning
out” patterns, they were less focused on the work than those students who
showed “not zoning out” patterns. It also noted that when students were paying
attention, their eyes bounced around the screen more.

“When you’re zoning out, you’re just fixating,” explained
Sidney D’Mello, leader of the University of Colorado research team. “You’re not
moving on.”

The study could lead to instructional software that
monitors mind wandering in real time. That troubles Jill Barshay, a
contributing editor for The Hechinger Report who writes about education
research and data.

“Do we really want to curb mind wandering?” she asked. “It’s
associated with creativity, and perhaps a bit of mind wandering is needed to
come up with big thoughts.”

Barshay suggested the result might be used better to point
out the places where the computerized learning bores students, instead of creating
prompts to keep them on track.

“But what I find fascinating about this research is how
data scientists have come to a conclusion that contradicts human intuition,”
she wrote. “You often hear teachers say that they don’t need data to tell them
what their students know. Well, this research points out that it’s hard for
teachers to know when students are really absorbing something just by looking
at their faces.”

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

While
most college instructors prefer that students stow their cellphones during
class, a new course offered at Vancouver Island University, Nanaimo, BC,
Canada, actually intends students to get their phones out.

In
developing the online mathematics class, the university made sure that all
course materials and assignments are mobile-friendly and accessible via
cellphones. The intent is to furnish more flexibility for students who may not
own a computer or tablet or who may need to fit their studying into odd times
away from home, such as during a work break or commute.

The
course consists of a series of study modules. Students can read the materials
for each module and then complete an assignment on their phone. They receive
their assignment score immediately and if they earn a passing grade, they can
move on to the next module at their own pace.

The
instructor monitors the students’ work, provides feedback on assignments, and
keeps in touch with each student by phone. Students can also schedule in-person
meetings with the instructor or reach her by email.The
class also has its own Facebook group page, which, of course, is also
accessible by cellphone.

Monday, February 12, 2018

Last week, the watchdog group Common Sense Media and
the Center for Humane Technology—a nonprofit formed by several former Facebook
and Google employees—launched a multiyear “Truth about Tech” campaign to increase
awareness of the addictive nature of smartphones and other electronic devices
and of social media.

Beginning with ads targeting 55,000 public schools in
the U.S., the campaign aims to engage educators, parents, kids, legislators,
health officials, and tech manufacturers on the dangers of constant connection.
The aim is not simply to warn but also to encourage changes in behavior and in
how devices are designed and marketed.

Tristan Harris, co-founder of the Center for Humane
Technology and a former design ethicist at Google, told CBS News, “The truth
about what’s happening on the other side of the screen is that this is
happening by design. There’s a whole bunch of techniques that are deliberately
used to keep the auto-play watching on YouTube to keep you watching the next
video, or streaks on Snapchat to keep kids hooked, to feel like they have to
keep this streak going.”

The potential for harm is even greater for minority and
disadvantaged children, who, according to multiple research studies, spend much
more time in front of screens. In addition, a 2012 Pew Research Center survey
found that lower-income parents are less informed about the risks of too much
screen time than their higher-earning counterparts.

Naomi Schaefer Riley, author of Be the Parent, Please: Stop Banning Seesaws and Start Banning Snapchat,
writing in The New York Times, said, “The
real digital divide is not between children who have access to the Internet and
those who don’t. It’s between children whose parents know that they have to restrict
screen time and those whose parents have been sold a bill of goods by schools
and politicians that more screens are a key to success.”

Friday, February 9, 2018

Cal
Newport, an associate professor of computer science at Georgetown University,
challenged readers of his Study Hacks blog (dedicated to exploring “how to
perform productive, valuable, and meaningful work in an increasingly distracted
digital age”) to cut out all digital interaction that wasn’t crucial to their
job or personal/family life for the month of January. After that, they could
gradually resume interactions that still seemed to have value.

Of
the almost 2,000 people who said they’d try the unplugging experiment, many reported exploring new hobbies, as well as discovering just how dependent
they’d let themselves become on phone apps and websites.

Newport’s
challenge is part of a growing debate on the role social media and digital
technology play in our lives and their impact on society. At the beginning of
the year, the investment management firm Jana Partners LLC and the California
State Teachers’ Retirement System sent a letter to Apple, asking the tech giant
to consider the “unintentional negative consequences” its products may be
having on children and teenagers. They recommended forming a panel of experts
to study the issue, more funding for research on it, and better parental
controls for Apple devices.

While
“technology addiction” isn’t yet an officially sanctioned diagnosis in the
U.S., brain-imaging studies and other research is finding evidence that overuse
of electronic devices can present problems for young people and their
developing brains. Some in the treatment community view the issue as a matter
of habit rather than addiction, but even without scientific consensus or official
recognition, more and more facilities and programs are being established to help
children and teens deal with digital or social media dependence.

As
digital media becomes increasingly embedded in education, schools and
instructors will need to model and encourage healthier relationships with
technology.

If
evidence of real harm accumulates and more people cut back in favor of “digital
minimalism,” the tech industry and social media platforms may need to
re-examine their business models. As noted by NPR, “as long as these companies
make their money from advertising, they will have incentive to try to design
products that maximize the time you spend using them, whether or not it makes
your life better.”

Changes
may already be emerging, as evidenced by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s New
Year’s resolution to amend many of his platform’s flaws. As a first step, new
standards this year mean that Facebook users will now see more content from
friends, family, and groups in their News Feed and less from companies, brands,
and media. Posts that facilitate more meaningful social interactions will be
encouraged, and that shift will be expanded across all of Facebook’s products
over time.

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

A
sizable majority of high school students are going on to obtain additional
education shortly after 12th grade, but the usual culprit—cost—is preventing
some students from enrolling in postsecondary classes.

A new
study by the U.S. Education Department’s National Center for Education Statistics
followed 20,000 ninth-graders from 2009 to 2016, according to a report in Inside Higher Ed. Nearly all (92%) graduated from high school and 72% of them
had entered some type of certificate or degree program or other vocational
classes by February 2016, when the study concluded.

Not
surprisingly, 80% of the students who attended private high schools continued
their education, while fewer than 49% of those from public high schools did so.
Students who didn’t pursue postsecondary courses often cited insufficient
finances as the reason. For 40% of students who started college after high
school and then dropped out, lack of money was also the cause.

Personal
situations and “work” (presumably schedules) also kept many students from
seeking additional training or education. Employment and studies seemed to be a
tough combination: Just 7% of the students who went on to postsecondary
coursework also held full-time jobs, and only about 25% had a part-time gig
while taking classes.

Given
the number of nontraditional-aged adults currently attending colleges and
universities, no doubt some of the study’s students who haven’t continued on
will eventually enroll somewhere. However, some are in a Catch-22 of sorts;
even if grants or other aid cover all their educational expenses, 60% of them
are still struggling to pay for daily living expenses.

Monday, February 5, 2018

At
the end of January, Google for Education unveiled a beta program that will
allow instructors and students to craft their own immersive virtual-reality (VR)
experiences using a Google app and a 360-degree camera.

Many
classrooms already employ the Google Expeditions teaching tool to explore the
world and outer space virtually via mobile devices and VR viewers. However, a “create
your own” experience was the feature most requested by students and educators.
The beta will allow participants to upload 360-degree images to the Google app
and then annotate them with videos, two-dimensional images, and descriptive
text to enhance the experience.

Ease
of use is designed into the program. “If you know how to type, you’re good to
go,” Jennifer Holland, lead program manager for Google Expeditions and G Suite
for Education, told Education Week.

For
schools that don’t have their own 360-degree cameras, Google will loan them
devices for the duration of the beta.

Friday, February 2, 2018

The online education provider edX has developed
45 MicroMasters degrees, online programs that provide a pathway to admission
into a full master’s program. Now, the company is turning its attention to MicroBachelors.

“Education in five to 10 years will become modular, will
become omnichannel, and will become lifelong,” edX CEO Anant Agarwal said
during a recent higher-ed innovation summit hosted by the U.S. Department of
Education. “We are going to make it so. It’s not going to happen by itself,
we’re going to make it happen. Modular is good because it can create new efficiencies
and new scaling and new bundling of components.”

MicroBachelors are viewed as a low-cost, low-risk online
way for students to start an undergraduate education. EdX, which won a $700,000
grant from the Lumina Foundation for the project, is already working with
Arizona State University on its Global Freshman Academy, a precursor to
MicroBachelors.

One issue that could provide an obstacle is mounting
evidence that online education is actually detrimental for some students.“Online
education is still in its youth,” Susan Dynarski, professor of education,
public policy, and economics at the University of Michigan, wrote in a column for The New York Times. “Many
approaches are possible, and some may ultimately benefit students with deep and
diverse needs. As of now, however, the evidence is clear. For advanced
learnings, online classes are a terrific option, but academically challenged
students need a classroom with a teacher’s support.”

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

New
statistics from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study show fewer college
students are taking out loans to pay for their education, while another report
indicates that a large chunk of student debt is concentrated in families with
the means to pay it off.

The
federal study, according to Inside Higher Ed, found that 38% of full- and
part-time undergraduates had taken out student loans for the 2015-16 academic
year, compared to 42% for the 2011-12 year (the last time the study was
conducted). The drop occurred across the board at private and public
institutions, two- and four-year schools, and even at for-profit colleges.

The
average loan amounted to $7,600, up about $500 from four years prior. However,
that average includes loans by students at for-profit schools, who typically
borrowed much more than students attending nonprofit institutions.

One
reason for the decline in borrowing rates may be that grants to college
students increased during the period covered by the study, from an average of
$6,200 up to $7,600.

A
separate study by the Urban Institute found that half of college student debt
was held by families earning the top 25% of income (roughly $81,140 or more per
year) and the top 10% accounted for almost one-fourth of student debt,
according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.

“The
concentration of education debt among the relatively affluent means that some
policies designed to reduce the burden of education debt are actually
regressive. Focusing on lowering the interest rate on all outstanding student
debt or on forgiving large amounts of that debt would bestow significant
benefits on relatively well-off people,” wrote the researchers.

Monday, January 29, 2018

Despite
all the anxiety over Twitter’s impact on civil discourse and society in
general, more and more educators are finding the social platform a valuable
tool for sharing assignments, increasing student engagement, and archiving
classroom resources.

In
intermediate and high-school grades, Twitter can be used to connect with
students where they already are. One New Jersey high-school teacher found that students
checked her classroom Twitter account more often than they read school emails.

Some
school systems or individual instructors may be dubious of Twitter’s value or uncertain
about what sorts of content they should tweet. In a blog post, Steve Williams,
co-founder of Campus Suite, a provider of cloud-based communications solutions for
schools, set out four areas where Twitter can and should be used by educators:

1. Enhancing
student engagement—Any additional channel for communicating with students is a
plus. In addition to tweeting project due dates and reminders about quizzes and
tests, teachers can send links to class notes and even design projects that
encourage students to use the platform to connect with each other (such as
comparing their interpretations of a reading assignment) or with others (such
as professionals in an industry being studied).

2. Community
engagement—Twitter is a quick and easy way to share classroom news and student
accomplishments with the broader community, including other school systems.

3. Connecting
with parents—Almost any parent knows that classroom information isn’t always
passed on to them by their offspring, so Twitter provides another path for
ensuring everyone is kept in the loop, whether the content is a class reading
list, a field-trip reminder, or an emergency alert.

4. Extending
the school’s reach—Twitter can also deepen connections with a school system’s wider
network of vendors, consultants, boosters, and board members to generate
interest in new programs or support for fundraisers or a tax levy.

Friday, January 26, 2018

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are now more readily available
than ever, with more than 9,400 courses and 500 credentials available to anyone
interested. Providers are also finding ways to make the courses more
sustainable through premium credentials, online degree programs, and access to
content.

Access to content has become a big business, ranging
from free to million-dollar licensing deals between providers and employers. Providers
are also placing more content behind paywalls, including graded assignments.

At the same time, though, enrollment has slowed. New data
from Class Central, a MOOC discovery platform, showed that 20 million learners
registered for their first MOOC in 2017, about three million fewer than in
2016.

“Over half a decade since their debut, MOOCs may finally
have found their footing and a sustainable revenue model,” Dhawal Shah, founder
of Class Central, wrote in a recent post for EdSurge.
“No, they didn’t disrupt universities, but they may have changed how working
professions access continued learning and career-advancement opportunities.”

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Higher
education has a reputation, deserved or not, for being resistant to change.
Some universities, according to a report in eCampus News, are trying to dispel
that image by appointing a chief innovation officer to lead and encourage
positive change on the business side of the institution.

A
study by Russell Reynolds Associates found that 20%-30% of the “top” 50 U.S.
universities have developed a senior-level position devoted to innovation,
entrepreneurship, or new ventures. Their specific duties may vary, but in
general “this role is strategic and aims at driving and maximizing revenues
from innovation,” said the report.

Chief
innovation officers focus on finding new and different revenue sources for the
university, rather than looking for ways to bring innovation to teaching and
learning, but some are involved in fostering greater collaboration across
departments and disciplines.

Innovation
can take two forms: sustained or disruptive, according to Education Dive’s new
monthly Innovation Column. “Sustained innovation maintains the current
framework of competitive idea engineering, while disruptive developments change
the trajectory of how leaders must operate for their institutions to stay
competitive, or even survive,” wrote Shalina Chatlani.

Chatlani
noted that slow adaptation—sustained innovation—may be more effective in higher
education. “It’s important for leaders to consider what it means to stay true
to a mission or navigate an uncertain financial or political environment,” she
wrote. “Positive change does not necessarily have to be disruptive.”

Monday, January 22, 2018

About a third of college students leave school feeling
unprepared for the workplace, according to a new survey.
One way institutions can help is by making officials and faculty aware that
initiating contact with students about their career readiness makes a big
difference.

Researchers found that students who had a conversation
with at least one instructor or staff member were more likely to feel ready to
begin their careers. About 40% of those students said they were confident they
would graduate with the necessary skills to be successful in the job market.

When faculty or staff failed to initiate the career
conversation, just 25% of students said they were convinced they would find success
in the job market.

“We tend to think in higher ed, that’s the job of career
services,” said Carol D’Amico, executive vice president of mission advancement
and philanthropy for Strada Education. “Well, we learned that most students
don’t access the career services department, so it’s really everybody’s job at
the university or college.”

More than 32,000 current students from 43 four-year
institutions selected at random participated in the survey, conducted by Gallupand the Strada Education Network. The schools ranged from large public
universities to small liberal arts colleges, but for-profit institutions were
not included.

The study also reported that 62% of
students earning science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) degrees
strongly agreed that they would find a good job. Just 40% of liberal arts
majors and 51% of business majors felt the same way.

“If I was still a chancellor … I would be concerned by
that and I’d want to know about my own students,” said D’Amico, a former
chancellor for Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana. “This is a nationally
representative sample so I think they should want to know where their students
stack up.”

Friday, January 19, 2018

Tools such as flash cards have been helping students
learn for generations. Now, the idea of providing short bursts of information lasting
no longer than 15 minutes—known as microlearning—is
taking on a new focus in the digital age.

After short lessons, students at Northeastern University,
Burlington, MA, use Twitter and Snapchat to create posts of hyperfocused
content for others to consume. Research there also found that using social
media for microlearning increased student engagement, created learning
communities, and provided opportunities for information retention.

“We focus on microlearning where students sometime
consume, but often create, content,” said Lindsey Sudbury, academic
instructional technologist at Northeastern. “It’s usually created quickly after
a lot of thought and integrating what they already know.”

The Northeastern work on microlearning found that breaking
education into small pieces allows students to access content more easily and
learn at their own pace. The study also reported that it helped reduce student
burnout syndrome, which is a concern for medical students.

“With
microlearning, you’re constantly getting this information over and over again,
so it’s allowing for you to really synthesize information and connect those
dots more frequently,” said Clair Waterbury, who works with Sudbury as an academic
instructional technologist at Northeastern.

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

There
is still a lot of debate and conflicting research on whether online higher
education is as effective academically as in-classroom instruction. For some institutions,
however, online courses are filling a two-part void.

A
report on Education Dive noted a growing number of colleges are offering more
online courses aimed specifically at nontraditional students. Those courses
also are available to the colleges’ traditional-aged students, but the pool of
new high school graduates has started to dwindle in line with the lower
birthrate two decades ago.

The
online courses not only help to bolster enrollment numbers (and revenue) for
the schools, especially community colleges, they also open up educational
opportunities for adults with full-time jobs and family responsibilities. These
older students are often unable to fit classroom courses into their schedules.

The
nature of online instruction also better enables colleges to adapt coursework
to working adults’ needs, such as condensing courses so students can attain an
associate degree sooner. For example, Riverland Community College in Minnesota
created the FlexPace program to offer accelerated business courses, squeezing a
semester’s worth of work into six weeks.

At
Indiana Wesleyan University, the 12,000 online students outnumber the 2,700 who
go to classes on campus. “What students like most is the flexibility,” said
Lorne Oke, IWU’s executive director of the Center for Learning and Innovation.
“There’s a significant change in the way students interact with learning and
their expectations from a college.”